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Qingqing Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
have sth. to do or to be done
1.I am going to the post office, for I have a letter to post.(active)
The logic subject of "to post" is the sentence subject "I"
2.--I am going to the post office. I know you have an important letter to post. Let me post it for you.
--Thank you. But I have no letters to be posted now.(passive)
Here we use "to be posted" because the letter is not posted by the subject. Therefore the infinitive should be passive.
But what about this question:
I'm going to the supermarket this afternoon. Do you have anything ____?
A. to be buying B. to buy C.for buying D.bought
Key: B What about "to be bought"
The logic subject of "to post" is the sentence subject "I"
2.--I am going to the post office. I know you have an important letter to post. Let me post it for you.
--Thank you. But I have no letters to be posted now.(passive)
Here we use "to be posted" because the letter is not posted by the subject. Therefore the infinitive should be passive.
But what about this question:
I'm going to the supermarket this afternoon. Do you have anything ____?
A. to be buying B. to buy C.for buying D.bought
Key: B What about "to be bought"
Top answer
I think " anything to buy " means you talk to that person: " do you have anything to buy by yourself ? " " anything to be bought " means you talk to that person: " do you anything to be bought by somebody ? "
- I think " anything to buy " means you talk to that person: " do you have anything to buy by yourself ?
- " " anything to be bought " means you talk to that person: " do you anything to be bought by somebody ?
- "
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2 Answers
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I think " anything to buy " means you talk to that person: " do you have anything to buy by yourself ? "
" anything to be bought " means you talk to that person: " do you anything to be bought by somebody ? "
" anything to be bought " means you talk to that person: " do you anything to be bought by somebody ? "
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"Do you have anything to be bought?" seems akward to me. I'd rather say "Shall I buy something for you?", or "do you want me to buy anything for you?", or also 'is there anything I can buy for you?"
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